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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29267202">The perfect birthday gift</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kendrene/pseuds/Kendrene'>Kendrene</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Supergirl (TV 2015)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Escort Lena Luthor, Escort Service, F/F, Lena Luthor Finds Out Kara Danvers is Supergirl</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 13:48:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,700</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29267202</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kendrene/pseuds/Kendrene</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Kara has to struggle not to look as agape as she feels. </p>
<p>What she knows, the only thought that manages to form inside her mind with any semblance of coherence is that the photo didn’t do Lena any justice. </p>
<p>She’s beautiful, and even that word isn’t enough to really describe what Kara’s seeing. But it’s the only word she’s got, and they’re about— they’re going to— Lena will— </p>
<p>OR</p>
<p>The escort Lena/Kara is still Supergirl au</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>881</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The perfect birthday gift</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Have this! Hopefully you'll like it!</p>
<p>- Dren</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“I don’t think this is a good idea.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The first time Kara says those words she’s holding the gift certificate Alex just gave her for her birthday between shaky fingers, her eyes wide with shock. She didn’t even </span>
  <em>
    <span>think </span>
  </em>
  <span>there’d be gift certificates for… for...</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I </span>
  <em>
    <span>really </span>
  </em>
  <span>don’t think this is a good idea.” she repeats half-heartedly while Alex is preparing the cocktail of chemicals meant to inhibit her powers for 72 hours. “Not with the DEO so understaffed.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Kara.” Alex pauses, syringe in hand, and gives her a long-suffering look. “We’ve talked about all this already. We have enough manpower to take care of things for 48 hours. You deserve a break. And to celebrate your birthday properly for once.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Truth is, Kara’s never been too keen about her birthday. It brings back painful memories of Krypton, and is a stark reminder that she’ll not only outlive Alex and her adoptive parents, but also Winn and James and the rest of her friends.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, but-” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But me no buts. Your cousin promised to keep watch over National City - you know he can be here in minutes — plus I’ve enlisted a little extra help.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Extra help?” Kara frowns. She doesn’t care for how that sounds. National City is </span>
  <em>
    <span>her </span>
  </em>
  <span>responsibility and the first wanna be hero can’t just swoop in and—  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hello </span>
  <em>
    <span>hotshot</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Of course</span>
  </em>
  <span> Alex would turn to Kate for help. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t call me that.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why not?” Kate saunters into the lab as if she owns the place, and plucks the gift certificate from Kara’s fingers. “It’s your big night, isn’t it? You’re finally gonna shoot your shot, blow your load, pop your—” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Stop it or I’ll incinerate y— </span>
  <em>
    <span>ow</span>
  </em>
  <span>!” The threat turns into a yelp the moment Alex sticks her with the needle. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh don’t be such a baby.” Her sister disposes of the spent syringe and pats her cheek. “We both know it wasn’t that bad.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You get stuck with an alloy made of alien metal, then you’ll have room to talk.” Kara grumbles, rubbing at the sore spot on her bicep. The needle didn’t exactly </span>
  <em>
    <span>hurt</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but it’s always a weird feeling when something pierces skin that could withstand orbital bombardment. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Nobody in her shoes would want to be reminded they aren’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>completely </span>
  </em>
  <span>invulnerable.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The chemicals Alex injected her with leave a trace too; a feeling of heat that radiates from the injection point to the rest of her, followed by a dizzying chill. The sensation lasts only a few moments, but leaves a funny taste in the back of her mouth. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, if it hurts so bad you can ask—” Kate waves the gift certificate in her face. “Lena to kiss it better.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Give me it!” Kara reaches out to regain possession of the paper, but a tremor runs throughout her arm and she misses the target by several inches. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This gift certificate entitles Kara Danvers to a weekend of unrestrained passion with Miss Lena.” Kate dodges another one of Kara’s poor attempts and keeps on reading. “Courtesy of GRANTed Desires Incorporated - </span>
  <em>
    <span>you wish, we make it happen</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Saucy.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kara finally manages to snatch the piece of paper back, but chasing after Kate leaves her gasping for air. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s completely normal,” Alex reassures when she shoots her sister a worried look. “Your body is adjusting to the whole no powers thing. Give yourself a few minutes and you’ll be fine.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So?” Kate plops down on the chair Kara was occupying and props her feet up on the nearby desk, earning a frown from Alex she deliberately ignores. “You gonna use it?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What about Gotham? I heard you’ve got your hands full with some dude who calls himself the Penguin.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The Crows </span>
  <em>
    <span>have it under control</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” Kara’s sure there’s quotation marks somewhere around those words. “Batwoman was told in no uncertain terms that her help isn’t needed. So, I brought my ass where it’ll actually be appreciated. Right, Danvers?” Kate winks, and Kara has the pleasure of watching her sister turn crimson. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you going?” Kate asks again, apparently refusing to be sidetracked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I...don’t know?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, you have 72 hours to figure it out, Kara.” Alex interjects, shooing her toward the door. “And in the meantime I don’t want to see you around here. Go home, sleep on it if you have to, but don’t come to the D.E.O. Whatever you decide to do in relation to your gift, you’re officially on leave. Earth-25 will have to fend for itself for a little while.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alex…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Off with you.” Alex </span>
  <em>
    <span>pushes </span>
  </em>
  <span>her, and she actually stumbles back a couple steps. “I’ll see you on Monday.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’s halfway to the exit when Kate’s muttered parting words finally click home.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Preferably make up your mind </span>
  <em>
    <span>before </span>
  </em>
  <span>you get blue balls, hotshot.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oh, she’s definitely going to set something of Kate’s on fire once this is all over. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>***</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lena doesn’t take alpha clients. Not </span>
  <em>
    <span>that sort</span>
  </em>
  <span> anyway. Not the kind that want their classy date night to have a happy ending, or skip on dinner altogether to just take her to bed. She used to in the beginning, just like the rest of the girls, but now that her time can’t be bought for less than five hundred dollars per hour she has the contractual power to say —</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, Cat. But thanks for thinking of me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You don’t even want to see a picture?” The smugness should be enough of a warning. Cat is up to something. Cat is definitely up to one of the things that’ll have Lena’s jaw flex, and the rest of her feeling that she’s been duped. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She knows, but falls for it anyway. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, show me how much of a looker this one is.” Lena’s seen a lot of those over the years, and she’s confident she can resist the allure. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No perfect body, no striking eyes are worth any amount of the inevitable alpha chest-puffing and hackling she’d have to subject herself to. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’s wrong. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The photo Cat sends her via whatsapp doesn’t do this prospective client justice. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s a </span>
  <em>
    <span>she</span>
  </em>
  <span>, first of all, which is unusual but not unheard for. Female alphas do exist, there’s just not very many of them. Rare enough, in fact, Lena’s never had the… </span>
  <em>
    <span>pleasure </span>
  </em>
  <span>of meeting one. At the very least none ever availed herself of the agency’s services as far as she knows. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As for the rest — well, if her bare forearms and the biceps stretching the button up shirt she’s wearing are any indication, Lena doesn’t want to think what else her clothes conceal. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She wants. She does think about it. In rather lurid detail to be absolutely honest. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay.” She hears herself agreeing from a distance, her higher cognitive functions stuck way lower. Between her legs. “Okay, I’ll make an exception.” On the other end of the line Cat chuckles. “Just this once, Cat.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course,” her boss agrees, the pleased smile coming through as though she’s standing in front of Lena. “Just this once.”  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Diplomatic as ever, Cat refrains from adding the </span>
  <em>
    <span>I knew you would</span>
  </em>
  <span> at the end. Complacency is below her.   </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She doesn’t have to, anyway.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>***</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kara tries to sleep on it, she really does, but all she manages is dozing off amid tangled sheets when the time on her alarm clock already reads 4 a.m.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The main problem is that the gift certificate came with one of those sleek-looking professional photographs that are usually found in a model’s portfolio, so that Kara knows </span>
  <em>
    <span>exactly</span>
  </em>
  <span> what Lena looks like. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Considering the kind of services on offer, Kara had expected to see something suggestive, bordering on outright pornographic. To her surprise, the photograph is in tasteful monochrome and the dress Lena wears in it, while elegant, is not at all revealing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Perhaps, it’s the little details that make it so much worse. The dress and the lipstick on Lena’s lips, which she guesses is just the right shade to make her wonder how it’ll look smeared over her cock. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kara is fast-reflexes and snap-decisions in a crisis. A girl of steel, as people and the media have started to call her. She’s learned from a young age to keep her temper on a leash, her passions banked away under a thick layer of ashes. It’s a lot of work to be the savior an entire city looks up to, the person who always has to tread as though they are the bull in the china shop. With hands that can tear the tallest buildings of the city to ruin, Kara’s mastered temperance early on — Eliza, her adoptive mother, had been very keen on that one point.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That led her to become the hero that the city turns to when it is in need of saving, but contributed to set her apart in sometimes painful ways. Her control when it comes to emotional responses is so disciplined that, at times, she feels that she is numb — that nothing short of a lethal dose of Kryptonite is able to affect her. She doesn’t have a problem with feelings on their own, but their actualization leaves her utterly confused at the best of times. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As a result, she’s barely ever acted on them — desperately in love with all the girls who were ever kind to her in high school, but never managing to find the courage to kiss one. Kara has grown used to being a loner. And that’s— it’s kinda sad.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s never bothered her much in the past — she has Alex and her friends and two jobs one of which entails risking her life on a nightly basis — but tonight the loneliness is untenable, and particularly stiff between her legs. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Because the problem with knowing what Lena looks like is that the image is engraved firmly on her mind. Lena, with that black dress hugging her curves, but not vulgar. Lena and her head tilt, which speaks to Kara of curiosity and a bright intelligence behind a gaze that </span>
  <em>
    <span>dares</span>
  </em>
  <span> the camera. Lena’s eyes, magnetic even though the photo is black and white, their true color a mystery Kara is yearning to unravel. Lena and her mouth, curved into the smile of someone who is privy to the sort of secret that makes everyone else blush. The kind that’s whispered in the dark - lips to ear and body to body. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kara can’t get the thought of her out of her mind, and dozes off, one hand under the duvet to cup the growing tightness there. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When she wakes up, she has to change the sheets. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>***</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The absence of powers doesn’t really register with Kara until the next morning, when she wanders into the kitchen, one arm thrown across her face to shield her eyes from sunlight.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The silence is what startles her fully awake. It’s not completely quiet, but the sounds she can hear --- traffic, a neighbor with their tv turned on too loud --- feel distant. She concentrates, and ---</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>---  and there’s no need to. No constant effort to keep everything out. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kara blinks, confused. It’s so hard not to listen, it takes up so much of her brainpower to hold herself in check ---  even if it’s second nature, even though she’s trained to — that her body doesn’t know what to do with all the extra energy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kara’s outgrown the need for lead-lined glasses long before becoming Supergirl, but right now, pumped full of whatever Alex gave her, she wouldn’t need them anyhow. She squints until her vision’s blurry with the effort, but the walls remain just walls, and glowering at her own hand doesn’t help her see past the skin, to the muscle and bone beneath. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s not long before she’s testing this newfound humanity, grabbing her favorite coffee mug and gripping it as tight as she can without breaking it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And she </span>
  <em>
    <span>can’t</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Not unless she throws it on the ground on purpose, but squeezing it until her hands hurt with the effort yields her no results.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kara laughs, exhilarated and a bit shocked, and then remembers the voucher with the phone number printed on the back. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe — just maybe — she should take Alex up on her offer.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>***</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lena gets off the phone just as she’s pushing open the door to Cat’s domain, and fails to wipe the amused smile from her face before it’s noticed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?” In a not so remote past, the mere rising of Cat’s threaded eyebrow would have been enough to make Lena sweat bullets. It generally takes a little more now that she’s earned her chops as a professional, and the sweat dampening her collarbone has nothing to do with the big boss staring her down from across the massive desk.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She sits herself down unprompted, but the air is so thick with heat she may as well be in a sauna. The illusion of a subtropical environment is heightened by the amount of greenery crammed inside the room. To Lena it’s always been a comforting sort of sight, the sign that Cat is human after all. Someone with hobbies — someone who might even own a cat and knit sweaters on weekends — just like the rest of them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Outside it’s icy cold, winter having finally seized the city in its grip, but Lena doesn’t feel that the thirty plus degrees inside Cat’s office are justified. Not that she’ll point it out to her — complaining about the temperature is the surest way to end up on her boss’s naughty list. A list Lena doesn’t particularly care to be put on, now that she’s managed to consistently stay off of it for a whole year. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Taking the time to order her thoughts, Lena runs a hand through her hair. She’s just come back from her weekly lunch with Maxwell Lord, who pays her upwards of three thousand dollars plus taxes twice a week so that his ex-wife will think his new sugar baby is the reason he’s late paying the alimony. Which means she hasn’t had the time to put her hair up before being summoned by Cat to die of heat stroke at twenty-five.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s a small mercy then that the fake lashes have come off — at least her eyeballs can sweat to their heart’s content, now — but Cat called her up before she could wipe the makeup off her face. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thank God for whoever invented the sweat-proof stuff, honestly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nothing. Just. This client is gonna be something.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh? Care to elaborate?” That may sound like a request, but it really, really isn’t. The expectant gleam inside Cat’s eyes as she lights up a cigarette is all the proof that Lena needs. A thin ribbon of blue smoke wafts her way from the burning tip, and she chokes down a cough.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll tell you if you quit smoking.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fat chance.” Cat deliberately blows another stinking ring of smoke her way. “Talk. Now.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Never heard someone so nervous before. And she hasn't even seen me naked yet.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You know—” Cat lunges for the ashtray, but Lena’s quicker. She snatches the ugly replica of St Peter’s square one of the younger girls brought back from a holiday in Rome away with a shit eating grin, and if looks alone could murder, a coroner would be in the process of cutting her open right about now. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Cause of death electrocution, they’d be writing in her file. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Cat gets up, stomping over to the window. She throws it open, throws a look at Lena to drive home just how big a favor she’s doing her, then sucks on the cigarette until only a stub of filter’s left between her fingers. The smoldering remains rain down to the street, several floors below. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Happy now?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Very.” Lena gives back the sweetest smile. “Now, about this client—”</span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You shouldn’t laugh about a client’s quirks, you know that, right? It’s not becoming. Besides, I taught you better than that.” Cat shoots her the kind of look that’d spell trouble for anybody else. Maybe it does for Lena too sometimes, but then again she’s always been her favorite. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I wasn’t laughing at her!” Well maybe a little. “It’s just… It’s kind of cute.” It had been, with the little fool stuttering her way through the conversation. Lena had to do most of the talking. It’s kind of a wonder an appointment got arranged at all.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In the beginning, Lena wondered whether it was just an act, but she’d swiftly reconsidered. Nobody could fake being </span>
  <em>
    <span>that </span>
  </em>
  <span>shy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Cat is careful about their clientele. Sleazeballs rarely get by her, but it’s happened. Just because her girls are escorts, it doesn’t mean they’d appreciate unsolicited dick pics more than anybody else. When it happens, Cat always makes sure to circulate the perv’s details among similar services. She’s gained a </span>
  <em>
    <span>reputation </span>
  </em>
  <span>over the years, and most people are civilized and well behaved. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But Cat’s fixated on another detail. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>She</span>
  </em>
  <span>? Is it the girl I had to beg you about?” She’s already flipping through her files. An actual, honest to God, cabinet of folders ordered alphabetically.  “I can’t remember the name.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Kara Danvers.” Lena thinks of the voice stammering about times and addresses over the phone. Wrecked with nerves, but oh so </span>
  <em>
    <span>feminine</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Bordering to husky when she’d stumbled over Lena’s name. She cannot help but be intrigued even more now.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ah </span>
  <em>
    <span>yes</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” Cat eyes the pack of Marlboro Gold still sitting on her desk, then thinks better of it. “The gift certificate. Her sister is the one who arranged for the whole thing. To be honest with you, she didn’t sound sure the certificate would end up being used.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That’s interesting. Mainly because Cat had made sure to omit that part when she’d sent Lena the picture.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Anything I should be aware of?” Aside from how unbelievably hot this Kara Danvers is?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Cat shrugs. “Shy. That’s what her sister said. Maybe a first timer.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“First time with an escort or actual first time?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Cat scoffs, then pushes a smile that’s all hard edges. As soon as Lena sees it, she knows it’s payback for her antics with the ashtray. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I could tell you, Lena, but where would be the fun in that?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lena loves Cat the way one would love a mother. The woman gave her a place to stay when Lillian kicked her out, gave her a job even though back then she’d been a spoiled brat of epic proportions. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But, sometimes, Cat is exasperating, and Lena wonders whether she ought to let her give herself lung cancer after all.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>***</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kara doesn’t know what she expected, but it’s certainly not </span>
  <em>
    <span>this</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>‘This’ being a downtown skyscraper that looks exactly like the dozen or so others that surround it. Hives of glass and chrome and metal where the city’s business heart resides. Except this isn’t a bank, or the headquarters of a Fortune 500 company — even though it looks like one. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When she gets out of the elevator and on the third floor, Kara freezes in the hallway, feet dragging with uncertainty. Despite the agency’s name stenciled in elegant black lettering along the wall, she fishes her phone out of her pocket to re-check the address. The instructions are clear. She has to check in. Third floor, just as the appointment confirmation says.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Everything, from the tasteful ambient light, to the thick, expensive-looking carpet under her feet makes Kara think of a law firm. A PR agency perhaps. A luxury hotel. Not a…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You look lost.” Somebody — a woman — says behind her. The statement is polite, but the words are so unexpected Kara ends up nearly hugging one of the enormous potted plants lining the wall at intervals. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uhm, yes.” She manages once her heart has moved down from her throat back where it belongs. “Yes. I, uh, I have an appointment at the— the—” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The agency?” The stranger suggests, gently, like she’s used to seeing flustered people on the daily. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes. That.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m headed there as well. Just down the hall this way.” She offers her hand as they start walking and Kara shakes it, keenly aware of how sweaty her palm is. “I’m Nia, by the way.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Kara.”  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’s not expecting to be treated to a genuinely welcoming smile, but when she is, Kara can’t help but smile back. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The nervousness that’s been hounding her since she scheduled her weekend with Lena recedes in favor of the emotions that keep her up so late at night — in more ways than one. Excitement and growing desire thunder through her, and her heart is suddenly pounding in her chest. Kara has to stuff her hands deep inside her pockets to keep them from shaking. It doesn’t work, but at least she can hide them. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Nia’s talking about inconsequential things; the weather, and the horrid traffic turning the streets of downtown National City into clogged arteries on a Friday night. Kara only half-listens, thoughts turned to the black and white photo of Lena she’s taken to keeping on her nightstand. It occurs to her she may have become slightly obsessed over the idea of finally, finally meeting her — and at the same time she knows it’s only the idea itself making her bold. Reality turns her knees to jelly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When she realizes they’ve stopped and that Nia is saying something to her, she tunes back into the conversation, struggling to refocus. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you work here?” She blurts the question out without thinking, and the heat of an instant flush spills from her collar to creep up her neck. “I mean— I’m not—” Kara kicks herself. Of course she works here — a client wouldn’t behave the way Nia is. However, Nia’s dressed… well, the way Kara would be dressed if she were going to work. In her admittedly not very knowledgeable mind all escorts dress like Lena. Not like they’re on their way to a 9 to 5. Unless this is somebody’s kink. In which case, wow, </span>
  <em>
    <span>back off</span>
  </em>
  <span> Danvers, you don’t need to blush anymore than you already did.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes.” Nia’s still smiling and that settles her down some. “I work the front desk.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She grabs Kara by the elbow and leads her on. To the front desk. Kara’s actually going through with this. Oh, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Rao</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I was asking who you have an appointment with?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh, uhm.” </span>
  <em>
    <span>Shit</span>
  </em>
  <span>, get a grip. “Lena?” The name comes out as a question, her voice cracking over it, and Kara almost hopes a chasm will yawn open under her feet and swallow her whole. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Nia left her side and slipped behind the front desk to tap away at a computer. “Ah yes. Can I see your ID, please?” It doesn’t escape Kara how she’s avoiding saying her name now they’re </span>
  <em>
    <span>truly</span>
  </em>
  <span> inside the premises. She’s still wearing that gentle, open smile, but there’s a touch of professionalism to it that hardens it a touch. Kara must have caught her on her break, or something. She’s glad — had she walked in here to see Nia behind the desk, armored in the practiced faux-warmth of a concierge, she would have marched herself right the fuck out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There’s a few forms for you to sign.” Nia hands her a clipboard and a pen. “We keep your ID at the front desk and you can pick it up after the appointment. Which in your case is—” A few beats go by while Nia scrolls through the info on her screen. “Oh, it looks like you’re booked through the weekend.” Something like surprise flickers across her face before she manages to hide it, and Kara has to wonder just how much Alex spent on this thing. Unless it’s the DEO paying — as part of keeping their pet alien in tip-top shape. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The internal turmoil must be showing on Kara’s face, because Nia leans in a little closer, and her eyes soften. Kara thinks that if they met anyplace else they could be friends.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey. I know it all feels very sanitized, but just… It’s fine to be nervous. The forms, the rest,” her eyes dart around the room, “it’s for the employees’ safety </span>
  <em>
    <span>and </span>
  </em>
  <span>yours.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay.” Her voice is a pitiful croak, and her face turns a deeper shade of pink. Damn. Just when she was cooling down from the previous blush too.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why don’t you sit over there—” Nia points to a plush couch, half-hidden in an alcove. “— and fill the papers in while I get you a glass of water? You’re not due to go up for another fifteen minutes anyways.” Kara shoots her a puzzled look, brows wrinkling slightly, and she adds. “We always make first-timers get in early. For the paperwork.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Right.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kara finds that sitting down slows the butterflies in her stomach to a bearable crawl, but when Nia calls her back to the front desk to collect the paperwork and let her know Lena is ready for her one floor up, her heart goes back to hammering her ribs to dust. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>She’s ready for you</span>
  </em>
  <span> bounces between her ears in an endless loop all the way up. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>***</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kara has to struggle not to look as agape as she feels. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What she knows, the only thought that manages to form inside her mind with any semblance of coherence is that the photo didn’t do Lena any justice. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’s beautiful, and even that word isn’t enough to really describe what Kara’s seeing. But it’s the only word she’s got, and they’re about— they’re going to— Lena will— </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you alright, darling?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Your eyes are green.” Kara says before she can stop herself, cheeks heating up. With a million things to choose from, she had to go and say the dumbest one. She wants to die. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That they are.” Lena’s voice is quiet and sweet. Soothing. Kara knows down to a subatomic level that she’s doing the equivalent of a deer-in-the-headlights number, but is powerless to stop it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lena takes a step closer, eyes kind, fingers lightly dancing along Kara’s arm. Nevermind wanting to die. Kara is going to, no matter what. She’ll self-combust or something, and leave only a ring of ashes behind. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“To be honest with you, that’s not the first thing people usually notice about me.” Lena’s mouth twists around the words as if she’s trying to take them back, and Kara gets the impression that maybe she had meant to say something altogether different. There’s a fragile quality to Lena’s admission, a note of resignation, Kara thinks. She must have heard the same trite compliments thousands of times, and Kara’s words have struck somewhere she didn’t expect.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But how can they not? Kara almost asks. How can they not look Lena in the eye and wonder at the impossibility of an entire forest residing in her gaze? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I...uh, sorry?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t be.” Lena backs her across the room, to a soft-looking bed that could comfortably hold four people. Oh, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Rao</span>
  </em>
  <span>, they’re going to bed. “I like it.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kara’s too caught up on Lena’s eyes to process what she’s saying. Was she supposed to notice something different? To look lower? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oh jeez.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’s aware, dimly, that Lena’s wearing an off-the-shoulder dress (Kara’s sure there’s a specific name for it in some dictionary somewhere) with a neckline that plunges vertiginously deep. Enough to hint at the things it’s supposed to be concealing without being inappropriate. Is Kara meant to ogle? It’s not that she doesn’t want to </span>
  <em>
    <span>look</span>
  </em>
  <span>, it’s just — it wouldn’t be polite to stare, would it? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You don’t have to look, but I won’t mind if you do.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lena’s hand moves up her arm to her shoulder, pushing down. It’s an infinitesimal amount of pressure, but the backs of Kara’s legs hit the mattress and she sits down, air leaving her lungs in a quiet </span>
  <em>
    <span>oof</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At this angle, not staring becomes an impossible task. The heels Lena’s wearing make her tower over Kara, but she finds she doesn’t mind. She’s a bit intimidated — more than a bit, really — but the butterflies seem to have migrated southward.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey,” Lena’s hand skims up her spine, its progress slow and steady. Steadying too, especially when she cups the back of Kara’s neck, thumb playing with the fine hair growing at her nape. “Nothing has to happen unless you want it to. Those papers you signed at the front desk? They work both ways, you know. Okay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh, uh.” Lena probably expects her to say something more, but Kara can’t. Not with the omega this close, so warm and smelling vaguely of frankincense. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I want—” At her sides, her hands open and close, fisting the sheets. “I mean— I want things to happen. I just—” She just doesn’t know where to start. She’s never done this, like never </span>
  <em>
    <span>ever</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Never kissed another person kind of never. Never seen somebody else naked either — somebody that wasn’t on a laptop screen at least — and telling Lena without coming off as a total idiot virgin is too much. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t know </span>
  <em>
    <span>how</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” She settles for knowing that it’s not enough, and her hands flounder in what space is left between them, attempting to conjure a fuller sentence out of thin air. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Reaching out, Lena traps Kara’s hands in hers, giving them a squeeze. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, honey.” she says, voice diving into subterranean levels. “That’s exactly why I’m here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>***</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Lena pitches her tone to the just-smoked-three-packs-of-Marlboro-back-to-back register, she knows precisely what she’s doing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The effect on Kara is immediate and two fold. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The blue eyes staring into hers widen, dark and hungry, pupils blown wide. And Lena sees, at the periphery of her vision, that something else is stirring inside of Kara’s black jeans. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She likes that, how the alpha came to her well dressed, but not pretending to be what she isn’t. No suits bought for the occasion, no fancy cufflinks shining on her shirt. Just a pair of dressy jeans and a button up shirt that is as grey as the sky outside. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kara’s palpable excitement is her cue, and Lena gracefully folds down on her knees in front of the alpha, a strangled gasp accompanying the motion. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wha—” Kara has to pause and swallow past an obviously dry throat. “What are you doing?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m taking care of you, darling.” Her hands splay atop Kara’s quaking thighs, and the alpha lets out an inelegant sound. Her eyes are half closed now, and her face is screwed into a wince. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’s close without Lena having really touched her yet, but the realization comes without amusement. Lena feels tenderness instead; something inside of this alpha who’s trying so valiantly to hold herself together calls to her nurturing nature. She aches to soothe Kara’s obvious desire, to show her. Teach her. Guide her inside— </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m— s— sorry,” Kara bites down on her own tongue, stifling a moan. Lena’s hands have made swift progress, and her fingers now hover at the zipper of Kara’s pants. Her eyes, Lena notices tearing hers away from the sizable bulge pushing against the fabric, have widened again. She is staring at Lena’s fingers mesmerized, disbelief written in bold letters on her features. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yes, Lena wants to cup her face and tell her, it’s really happening. You’re really here with me. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then, surprising her for the second time in the space of an hour, Kara licks her lips and says.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait. Can I— could I kiss you first?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The request isn’t unusual, but it isn’t the thing a client looks forward to the most. It’s true Lena doesn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>entertain </span>
  </em>
  <span>this way anymore, and maybe that means she’s a bit out of the loop. Perhaps tastes have changed, but somehow she doesn’t buy that. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No, this is just Kara being Kara. The same stammering, soft-spoken girl who’d been almost too shy to arrange the appointment in the first place. And, somehow, what’s about to happen feels more personal. Intimate in ways those that are in the profession learn early on are best left to fantasy alone. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lena has had some memorable times with clients, but they’ve been few and far between. Setting the bar low has kept her safe from heartbreak and disappointment, but she’s starting to think that this is something new. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s obvious to her now that Kara’s a first-timer, not just with an escort, but with </span>
  <em>
    <span>anyone</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and in turn Lena is afforded a fresh look at things that have become mundane.   </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’d like it if you kissed me.” Standing, Lena kicks her heels off and throws a leg over Kara’s lap, straddling her. “I’d like that very much.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>***</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kara had expected things would change for her after her first kiss. That it’d be some sort of threshold, a rite of passage leaving her a reborn woman. But it’s not. It isn’t life altering in the big way she’d imagined, because the universe around them stays exactly the same. The Earth keeps turning, the sun dips lower toward dusk, and Kara knows for a fact that all the bodice-rippers she’s stuffed her head full of over the years are full of shit. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Because </span>
  <em>
    <span>everything </span>
  </em>
  <span>changes, but it’s small change. Peanuts to anyone but her. She can’t remember being this warm before, for starters, Lena’s tongue delicately swiping against her own. And Kara soaks in a lot of sunlight — for obvious reasons — so she knows what </span>
  <em>
    <span>warm </span>
  </em>
  <span>feels like. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This heat is different. It reaches deeper. Kara supposes a bear coming out of hibernation might feel something similar to this when sunrays first kiss their fur after a long winter. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lena’s kiss definitely tastes of new things, and something shifts inside her, loosens up. Her heart pounds a drumline in her chest, and as Lena’s hips grind down a matching rhythm picks up inside her pants. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oh, no.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I—” Kara tries to stop it from happening, but there’s no reasoning with her hormones right now. One long shudder and she’s coming, shame heating up her ears. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s alright.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kara doesn’t dare look at Lena, afraid she’ll see a smirk plastered on her lips or, worse still, pity. Fingers close lightly around her chin, leaving her no choice but to meet Lena’s eyes. The omega’s gaze is heavy, charged. Burning with the same lust that’s already fueling another erection in Kara’s pants. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m so sorry, I didn’t— I couldn’t—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Kara, it’s so okay.” Lena’s fingers trail down the dip of her throat, then fasten around the first button of her shirt, loosening it. “We have a whole weekend ahead of us, and by the end of it you’ll know all about control. I promise.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’s dead already. She’s dead and this is heaven, surely. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can I kiss you again?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kara follows her request by trailing her hands down Lena’s sides. She hadn’t noticed, but the dress leaves the omega’s back bare, and when her hand sculpts around Lena’s waist, fingertips meeting silky skin, Kara can’t help another strangled whimper.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You don’t have to ask.” Lena pauses in her task. She’s undone all of Kara’s buttons, and her hands have snuck beneath the cloth, beginning a tortuous journey along her ribcage. “You can kiss me as much as you want, Kara.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>***</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’s a quick learner, Lena manages to think, as Kara licks into her mouth with newfound authority. And don’t get her started on those hands. Kara’s holding her by the hips again, kissing her in a way that suggests she’ll be content with doing it for the duration of the weekend. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But, as much as she’s enjoying this, Lena wants more. She’s not been this wet in a long time, a stain of arousal dampening the front of Kara’s pants, mixing with the mess already there. They’re grinding into one another again, and </span>
  <em>
    <span>wow</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Lena knows beyond the shadow of a doubt that Kara’s climaxed again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The alpha tried to hide it — out of embarrassment, perhaps — but Lena’s felt her go rigid moments ago. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I want to touch you.” She huffs hotly against Kara’s neck, fighting a quick skirmish with her belt. “I want to see the mess you made and lick it clean.”  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, </span>
  <em>
    <span>fuck</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kara doesn’t strike her as the swearing type, and it’s so, so </span>
  <em>
    <span>hot </span>
  </em>
  <span>she’s that far gone. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s sometime after that when it happens, with Kara sprawled naked on the bed and Lena lapping at the come dripping down her shaft. Kara’s whole body jerks, and at first, Lena thinks of another orgasm — Christ, the stamina she has — but a ripping sound jolts her to her senses, and when her head lifts from the sticky crease of Kara’s thigh, she watches the alpha’s eyes fill with horror in real time. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kara’s hand — her hand punched a hole right through the mattress — a spray of feathers bursting from the hole when she snatches it back. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, no.” Kara’s not meeting her gaze, and her scent is edged in fear. “Oh, no. She said it’d work. She said—” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Kara. Kara, </span>
  <em>
    <span>hey</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” Lena lifts up on her elbows, brows furrowed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She feels oddly calm for somebody that’s in bed with another somebody who can punch holes through mattresses without breaking a sweat — apparently. More concerned with Kara’s rising panic than her own personal safety. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The poor thing is hyperventilating. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Kara</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” She pushes a wave of soothing pheromones in the direction of the alpha, and that seems to do the trick. Kara blinks, a bit dazedly, but the stench of panic subsides, replaced with uncertainty. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t worry about the mattress.” Lena drapes over her body, and it feels silly to want to shelter someone who she can perceive is stronger than any human has the right to be. “You’re okay.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kara lets herself be gathered in her arms, but when she tries to bury her face in Lena’s neck, her glasses which she is still incongruously wearing, get in the way.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hold on, let me help with those.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait! Don’t—!” But it’s too late. Lena pulls Kara’s glasses off and things finally </span>
  <em>
    <span>click </span>
  </em>
  <span>into place. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Well, shit.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t.” There’s nothing she can do to pin such a being in place. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kara extricates herself, painfully careful, and huddles on the far side of the bed like a wounded animal. As far away from Lena as possible without putting a Kara-shaped hole through the wall. “Don’t say it, please.” Her eyes swim with quiet desperation. “When people figure it out, everything changes. And I—” The laugh that erupts from Kara’s chest is startling. Cuts into Lena with the sharpness of a knife. “I was hoping I could be normal for a change. But I should have known better.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lena doesn’t need superpowers to relate. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She’s well acquainted with the burden of expectation. Has seen how the media and the public act around Supergirl as well. How fast can you fly? Can you show us your powers? Misdirected admiration turns Kara into a performance monkey for the masses. It must be alienating. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you want to talk about it?” More than anything else Lena longs to close the distance between them, but she doesn’t want Kara to bolt again. She has an inkling that it would shut her down for good.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes.” Kara’s eyes wander in fits and starts around the room, before settling back on Lena. “Yeah, I do.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>***</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It takes a while for Kara to tell her story, but Lena listens to it all. Kara expects questions, or interruptions, but the omega is poised, focused on her as if Kara is the only thing that matters to her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After she’s done, Lena opens her arms wordlessly, welcoming Kara back to her. She isn’t convinced she’ll accept the silent offer until she does, and despite her fears, the hug is natural. Lena isn’t stiff against her, and her scent is a warm blanket. It wraps around Kara tightly, and she thinks she could stay like this forever, for no other reason than because she wants to.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The only awkwardness is that she’s still hard, but Lena doesn’t seem to mind that either. If anything her green eyes are sparkling, and Kara knows that no one has ever looked this beautiful in the fading light of sunset. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It doesn’t change anything for me, if that helps.” Lena tells her, thumb stroking her cheek. “If you still want—” Her eyes roam all over Kara quite unsubtly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I could hurt you. And I don’t want that. To hurt you, I mean.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You wouldn’t.” Lena’s lips brush against her own, her knuckles dragging down her throat until she’s melting into shivers. “Besides, remember what I said about control?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Control means being edged through the entire weekend, Lena slowing whatever she’s doing to her whenever Kara shows signs of being close to coming. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can I come now?” She whines early Sunday morning, buried to the hilt inside the omega’s sweet cunt. Kara doesn’t think she can hold it back much longer. She’s not even confident that the condom Lena slipped on her before finally guiding her inside will be enough to hold her load. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The base of her cock is swelling too, the knot itching and throbbing as it forms. It splits Lena open whenever the omega’s hips roll down, and soon enough they will be joined. Unless Kara passes out from the tension first.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes.” Lena swallows hard, a hand coming to rest over Kara’s thundering pulse. She could dig her nails if she wanted, and Kara almost tells her to, but the tenderness she reads in Lena’s eyes changes her mind. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lena’s hand travels back up, from Kara’s throat to the hinge of her jaw. There her thumb rubs tiny circles, and Kara anchors herself to that sensation, battling with the instincts roaring in her chest. To flip Lena onto her back and rut mindlessly inside her until she’s fully knotted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kara can’t risk it, but doesn’t have to.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lena bears down on her with all of her weight and clenches. Once, twice, head thrown back to expose her throat. It’s tempting to sink her teeth in that expanse of creamy skin, but Kara manages to keep herself from piercing it. The purprling bruise she sucks on Lena’s throat is testament to her restraint. A warbled cry and, spurred by the sting of the almost-bite, Lena is coming, pulling Kara along. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She has to keep her hips from snapping up too hard, aware that she could easily break Lena’s pelvic bone if she’s not careful. But her alpha is overworked and the energy is searching for an out. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kara channels it the only way she knows how, by floating them halfway to the ceiling, Lena laughing in delight when she realizes what is happening. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, god.” Lena hiccups sometime later, helping Kara pull off the condom without causing a mess. The reservoir at the tip is nearly overflowing and the task is harder than it looks with both of their hands shaking. “Oh, god. That was—” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Could we… can we do it again?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lena doesn’t answer, pulling Kara’s hand between her legs instead. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She is still dripping wet, and Kara’s fingers slip-slide inside her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>***</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kara doesn’t want to count the hours until the weekend is over, but Sunday evening is looming large on the horizon, impossible to ignore.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t want to go.” She’s mostly talking to herself, but Lena makes a noise of agreement, and moments later, the omega’s mouth is pressing hot and insistent to the corner of Kara’s mouth. “I don’t want you to go either.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Silence befalls them, and they turn their heads to the window almost in unison, watching as the sun sets over the city. Sunset has always held a deep meaning for Kara, acting as the border between her two identities. As she watches the light fade from gold to russet and cooler pink, Kara is invaded by the feeling everything could happen. Most of the time she’s right, but tonight there is no sense of possibility. Only sadness. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you think…” She begins, unsure of herself all of a sudden. “Do you think I can see you again? I’ll pay, of course.” She doesn’t want Lena to think she’s trying to take advantage of her kindness. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lena shakes her head and Kara’s heart breaks. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No.” Kara starts to pull away, but Lena tugs her back. She’s strong, but Kara could easily resist her. She doesn’t want to. “I don’t want you to pay.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t understand.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I want to see you again, Kara.” Lena reassures her, still soft. Still gentle. “But not here. Not like this.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Then like what?” Kara’s brows pinch in confusion. She thinks she knows where this is going, but doesn’t want to make assumptions. Her heart is barely held together with tape and super-glue as is.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, for starters I would like to have dinner with you at some point.” Lena’s fingers trace a debilitating tattoo along her collarbone, and Kara presses closer. “I want to get to know you. The real you. Kara…” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Zor-El.” Kara noses along Lena’s jaw, nuzzles into her hair. The smell of her is intoxicating. Sweat and pheromones. Ribbons of her perfume. Kara’s own musk. “My name is Kara Zor-El.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It suits you.” Lena hums, and Kara revels in the feeling of her ribcage expanding under hands that could shatter it on a whim. She’s lost in the way Lena’s bottom lip drags against hers when their mouths collide again, in how the omega offers herself, this time lying on her back in utter trust and pulling Kara on top of her. Like she knows, even though Kara herself doesn’t, that there’s no chance of her getting hurt, here in this moment, no matter how inhumanly strong Kara is.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Like a date?” It comes out in a gravelly gasp, Lena’s cool fingers cradling her shaft, pulling her inside again. Flesh to heated flesh this time. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“A date, yes.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hours later, with Lena fast asleep by her side, the sky softening into a fuller night, Kara is willing to admit that maybe the bodice-rippers and romance novels she stuffed her head full of aren’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>entirely </span>
  </em>
  <span>wrong.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With her hips cradling Lena’s and her arm thrown snugly over the omega’s heaving side, with Lena tucked against Kara’s front, warm as if she’s just climbed out of a bath, everything’s changed in a big way.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kara closes her eyes and lets go of her fear, and as the white noise of it fades, she can hear it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The world — </span>
  <em>
    <span>her</span>
  </em>
  <span> world — </span>
  <em>
    <span>shifts</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Bored in lockdown? <a href="https://kendrene.tumblr.com/">join me on Tumblr</a> for more stories, more smut and gay nonsense!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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